"A comprehensive health educational framework program was in place, but health education wasn't mandated in classrooms. And because of time and money constraints, it was taught only to a point that teachers and administrators had available resources," said Hancock, president of the foundation, the fundraising arm of North Mississippi Medical Center (NMMC).

 

In addition to providing funding to a variety of projects aimed at improving the health of people in the region, the foundation provided charitable funds to support six of the 12 regional NMMC school nurses. The foundation also funded three school health educators that reach 1,500 students.

 

After HealthWorks! Kids Museum opened at Memorial Hospital in South Bend, Ind., in 2000, Hancock had a wonderful, ambitious idea. Why not replicate the center and open it in Tupelo as a children's health education resource center?

 

"The museum provided children with a high-energy, innovative, creative and effective healthcare experience," said Hancock, who had a game plan in place by 2002 to make HealthWorks! Children's Health Education Center a reality in Tupelo.

 

With a fundraising goal of $6 million, $5.7 million had been raised shortly after the museum opened on Jan. 31. "The financial support has been unprecedented," said Hancock. The $300,000 gap, he added, "will close … and will cover operational costs."

 

Remarkably, the building process to convert an old grocery store into a high-tech interactive museum for children took only a year, with healthcare leaders and elected officials knocking out a few bricks in the former Kroger building on Industrial Road in Tupelo in late January 2008.

 

"We were able to fast-track it in part because we had a prototype that helped us finish as quickly as we did," said Hancock. "The brand the Indiana center created and the standards they set for the total experience speaks volumes."

 

When the 15,000-square-foot learning center was completed, the colorful, zany, infectiously fun learning environment for kids housed 19 interactive exhibits, two high-tech classrooms and an interactive brain theater. Whimsically titled staff—"high-flying kid motivators" and "captains of the universe"— lead the education programs and oversee the exhibits on the Funtastic Floor.

 

"The exhibit floor is different than the one in Indiana," noted Hancock. "Technology has changed quite a bit over the last nine years, and we were able to capitalize on that."

The Bullpen

"Josh always talked about how there was such camaraderie in the bullpen, and how everybody looked out for each other, and it seemed fitting to name the place where educators come together in the same way," said Hancock.

 

Mississippi State University's Social Science Research Center conducted research and utilization studies and determined that the region's primary health issues are proper nutrition, oral health, tobacco prevention and fitness. These results helped guide the foundation board through the planning process to bring HealthWorks! to fruition.

 

Among exhibit and program highlights:

 

·       Dr. Nose-It-All, which educates via an animated trivia game how germs cause colds, sore throats and earaches;

·       Supersize, which demonstrates how much exercise is needed to burn off calories of various drink sizes;

·       Face Your Future, a computerized exhibit that uses aging software to demonstrate the ill effects of tobacco use, sun exposure and overeating; and

·       Let's Play Grossology, Grab a Bite and Choices, which that reinforce children's health education programs.

 

"Even though we make learning fun, to the point sometimes that kids don't realize they're learning, the heart of HealthWorks! is what happens in the classroom," said Hancock.

 

Immediately successful since the facility's official opening in February, more than 7,000 people have come through the doors, including 5,000 schoolchildren on field trips. Most student groups pay only $4 or $5 per child for admission, with discounts for students who qualify for free and reduced lunches. These nominal fees were adopted by the foundation board to provide schools and parents with affordable, curriculum-based field trip experiences.  

 

"HealthWorks! is a community-based non-profit health education resource that will always need charitable support to supplement its operation. Unless we charge $15 to $20 per ticket, the center will never be free of the need for charitable contributions," said Hancock. "We can't do that. We want to make it affordable and available for every student."

 

Now instead of reaching a few thousand students every year, "we have the potential to reach tens of thousands of children annually," said Hancock.

 

Kathy Haynes, respiratory manager for NMMC's women and children's services, and a certified asthma educator who volunteers with Camp Breathe Ezzze, a summer camp for children with asthma sponsored by NMMC and held at Tishomingo State Park, said camp registrants are already buzzing about the planned field trip to HealthWorks! in late May.

 

"It's the most fascinating, fun place for children to learn about health," said Haynes. "Several of them have already been to the museum, and it's a place they want to go over and over again."